Sasha talks about the challenges of growing up in a family with traditional Jewish and particular "Lansky-style" practices-- eating kosher, not watching TV, observing the Sabbath and Jewish holidays-- in an area (Holyoke and Amherst, MA) where there are few peers she could relate to. She describes her continuing quest for a Jewish community, and how she hopes to find one as she goes off to college next year. Her participation in Hazon, a Jewish Environmental Program, allowed her to feel more Jewish, and, as she discusses, made her feel the strong connection between environmentalism, activism, and Judaism through the idea of "respect for all human beings." She also mentions her relationship to Yiddish, and what it's been like growing up the daughter of Aaron Lansky without knowing Yiddish herself.


This movie is part of the collection: Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project

Producer: Yiddish Book Center
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Sunday; Jewish home; Jewish traditions; Jewish culture; kosher; shabbes; Yiddish; American identity; Political views; Jewish values; Israel; otherness; Wailing Wall; human rights; reading; television; anti-semitism; Jewish appearance; multiculturalism; environmentalism; nature; bike riding; college; B'nai Tsedek Teen Philanthropy Program; Springfield; MA; Hazon; Yiddish Book Center
Contact Information: Christa Whitney - Yiddish Book Center - cwhitney@bikher.org

Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

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